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Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung
The EAV (Erste Allgemeine Verunsicherung, German for "First General Confusion/Uncertainty/'Uninsurance'") is an Austrian band that was formed in 1977. Nino Holm first established a band called "Anti-Pasta", but it was not successful and it dissolved after three years. Holm then decided together with his friend Thomas Spitzer to create a new band. While they were undecided on a name, they saw a bus stop in a branch of "Erste Allgemeine Versicherung" ("First General Insurance"), abbreviated EAV, and so they came to the name "Erste Allgemeine Ver'un'sicherung-EAV". They initially faced legal difficulty in Austria due to the (obviously intended) similarity of their band name to that of the corporation "Erste Allgemeine Versicherung". This was later dropped and the insurance company was even known to sponsor them on a few occasions. The EAV often changed their members. Their members as of today are Klaus Eberhartinger (Vocals), Thomas Spitzer (Guitar, Vocals), Kurt Keinrath (Guitar, Keyboard, bass guitar), Franz Kreimer (Keyboard), Alvis Reid (Bass guitar) and Aaron Thier (Drums). The stage shows are known for lavishness in both backdrop and costumes, the latter often selected and changed for specific songs that are then acted out by either the vocalist or other members. Despite the band's failed attempt to gain international fame, they still remain quite popular in Germany and Austria. Style Their songs are mostly anti social and weird in nature, but the lyrics contain hints of social criticism as well. For example, "Cinderella" (1994) is one of their "fun" songs, in which they tell the tale of Cinderella in a funny way: "Sie schlief im Kohlenkeller, trotzdem war sie bettelarm, weil sie von der vielen Kohle, die da lag, zu wenig nahm" ("She slept in the coal cellar, but she was dirt-poor, because she didn't take much of the plentiful coal that lay there"). The word "Kohle" ("coal") is a colloquial word for money in German. More critical lyrics can be seen in the song "Burli" (1987), which tells the story of a boy born shortly after the Chernobyl accident in an exaggerated and humorous way: "Herr Anton hat ein Häuschen mit einem Gartenzwerg und davor, da steht ein Kernkraftwerk. Da gab es eines Tages eine kleine Havarie, die Tomaten war'n so groß wie nie…" ("Mr. Anton has a small house with a garden gnome, and nearby there's a nuclear power plant. One day there was a small accident - the tomatoes were bigger than ever before…"). Both "Burli" and the song "Afrika" led radio stations to boycott the band. The band is known for open statements against political extremism especially on the right ("bacillus nationalis") and was sued by prominent politicians of the political right like Kurt Waldheim for drawing attention to his past in the 3rd Reich and Jörg Haider, then-head of the right-leaning FPÖ. Songs on this topic include e.g. "Eierkopf-Rudi" or "Wir marschieren". Members Suicide of Walter Hammerl In February 1981, group member Walter Hammerl committed suicide after attempting once before. He was a close friend of Klaus Eberhartinger, who took over his duties. Bandmate Thomas Spitzer commented that it was worrying how the band got on and felt so close to Walter Hammerl, but without actually knowing him. Hammerl had mainly done managing and stage directing work for the band, however he did sing on a few tracks. Heart attack of Andy Töfferl In May 2012, former group member Andy Töfferl died of a heart attack at the age of 56 years. Timeline of members ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:25 PlotArea = left:150 bottom:125 top:0 right:50 Alignbars = justify DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1977 till:2016 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Colors = id:guitar value:orange legend:Guitar id:keys value:powderblue2 legend:Keyboards id:bass value:gray(0.8) legend:Bass id:drums value:yellowgreen legend:Drums id:vocals value:tan1 legend:Vocals id:stage value:rgb(0.9,0.6,0.6) legend:stage_direction id:white value:gray(1) id:lines value:gray(0.5) legend:Studio albums Legend = orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:3 ScaleMajor = increment:4 start:1977 BarData = bar:Wilfried text:"Wilfried Scheutz" bar:Stei text:"Gert Steinbaecker" bar:Eber text:"Klaus Eberhartinger" bar:Spitzer text:"Thomas Spitzer" bar:Keinrath text:"Kurt Keinrath" bar:Stranzinger text:"Reinhard Stranzinger" bar:Holm text:"Nino Holm" bar:Bottazzi text:"Mario Bottazzi" bar:Töfferl text:"Andy Töfferl" bar:Bronner text:"David Bronner" bar:Zettl text:"Franz Zettl" bar:Kreimer text:"Franz Kreimer" bar:Breit text:"Eik Breit" bar:Bei text:"Leo Bei" bar:Reid text:"Alvis Reid" bar:Stenmo text:"Anders Stenmo" bar:Deutsch text:"Alex Deutsch" bar:Baum text:"Robert Baumgartner" bar:Thier text:"Aaron Thier" bar:Hammerl text:"Walter Hammerl" bar:Scho text:"Guenter Schönberger" PlotData= width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Wilfried from:1978 till:1979 color:vocals bar:Stei from:1979 till:1983 color:vocals bar:Eber from:1981 till:end color:vocals bar:Spitzer from:1977 till:end color:guitar bar:Keinrath from:1996 till:end color:guitar bar:Stranzinger from:2010 till:end color:guitar bar:Holm from:1977 till:1995 color:keys bar:Zettl from:1998 till:2001 color:keys bar:Bottazzi from:1983 till:1990 color:keys bar:Töfferl from:1990 till:2001 color:keys bar:Bronner from:1995 till:1998 color:keys bar:Kreimer from:2001 till:end color:keys bar:Breit from:1977 till:1995 color:bass bar:Bei from:1997 till:2014 color:bass bar:Reid from:2015 till:end color:bass bar:Stenmo from:1977 till:1998 color:drums bar:Deutsch from:1998 till:1998 color:drums bar:Baum from:1998 till:2014 color:drums bar:Thier from:2015 till:end color:drums bar:Hammerl from:1978 till:1981 color:stage bar:Scho from:1978 till:1996 color:stage LineData = at:1978 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:1981 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:1983 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:1984 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:1985 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:1987 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:1990 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:1991 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:1994 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:1997 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:1998 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:2003 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:2005 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:2007 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:2010 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:2015 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 at:2016 color:lines layer:back width:0.5 Line-ups Discography * 1978: 1. Allgemeine Verunsicherung (1st General Uncertainty) * 1981: Café Passé (Café Passé) * 1983: Spitalo Fatalo (Hospitalo Fatalo) * 1984: À la Carte (À la Carte) * 1985: Geld oder Leben! (Your Money or Your Life!) * 1987: Liebe, Tod & Teufel (Love, Death & Devil) * 1990: Neppomuk's Rache (Neppomuk's Revenge) * 1991: Watumba! (Watumba!) * 1994: Nie wieder Kunst (Never Again Art) * 1997: Im Himmel ist die Hölle los! (In Heaven All Hell is Breaking Loose!) * 1998: Himbeerland (Raspberryland) * 2000: Austropop in Tot-Weiß-Tot (Austropop in Dead-White-Dead; is a pun on the colours of the Austrian national flag: Red-White-Red, German: Rot-Weiß-Rot) * 2003: Frauenluder (Woman Slut) * 2007: Amore XL (Love XL) * 2010: Neue Helden braucht das Land (The Country Needs New Heroes) * 2015: Werwolf-Attacke! (Werewolf Attack!) External links *www.eav.at: Official Homepage of Erste Allgemeinen Verunsicherung and the EAV-Fanclub (in German) *EAV-Fanpage about the early years of the band (in German) * Unofficial fan site (in German) * Category:Austrian musical groups